Solomona: Castleford fans have not seen the best of me yet

Tony Harber

Dashing winger Denny Solomona has quickly made himself a favourite at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle, but has promised fans they have not seen the best of him yet.

Despite scoring five tries in three games since returning to action following a knee injury the 21-year-old New Zealander does not believe he is back to full sharpness yet.

In a warning to rival Super League teams Solomona, who has scored seven tries in total in six games since arriving from London Broncos, reckons there is much more to come from him and his Tigers team this year.

He said: “There’s a lot to come when I get match fit.

“I’m not there yet. Hopefully if we can get into the finals by then I’ll be hitting top form.

“I’ve scored some tries, but it’s the boys really who are working hard and I just finish and look pretty really – or try to!

“I don’t set targets, I just set out to do the best I can and try and work hard for my team-mates.

“We had an important win last week and now we’ve just got to concentrate on our consistency and try and get some more wins to get us high in the table. Top four is definitely the aim.

“I’m happy with the way it’s being going for me since my return to the team, but it’s a credit to the boys really. They have been doing their job, which makes my job easier and that’s just scoring tries really.”

Solomona credited team-mates and fans for helping him settle in well at Castleford.

He said: “I definitely think I made the right decision coming here.

“I knew it right from the start when I announced it. I got a good vibe and as soon as I signed I had fans welcoming me, that was pretty good.

“It’s different to last year for me. I was really homesick and losing didn’t help. But it just feels like home here.

“The boys are doing really well and we’ve got Junior Moors and Ben Roberts, from back home, which is making it a bit easier.

“I was contemplating going home a few times last year, but obviously I had a job to do. But with Castleford it’s a small town and everyone pretty much knows everyone so they are much closer.

“There’s a lot of international players at the club. There’s Millo and Dorny, who’ve been here quite a while and they just give you a tap on the shoulder and ask how you are. It’s little things like that that have really helped me and made it feel a lot more like home.”

Castleford attentions now turn to tonight’s local derby with Leeds Rhinos and Solomona is raring to go in front of a big crowd at Headingley.

He said: “I’ve played at Headingley before for London. It was my third game and I think we got something-six so it was a tough game.

“Even for us they had a lot of fans there so I can only imagine what Thursday’s game’s going to be like, especially with a lot of Cas fans going down.

“It’s going to be a great atmosphere and I can’t wait to play.”

Solomona explained that he had worked hard to get back to fitness after a knee injury picked up in only the third game of the season left him absent for the next 12 matches.

He added: “I only played three games and got injured at St Helens so it was definitely frustrating, but what can you do? It’s the game and you’ve just got to work hard to get back.

“The boys have done well when I was away so it was not too bad.

“Obviously competition’s healthy. We’ve got Ash Gibson who can play on the wing, we’ve got Ash Robson who debuted and did really well when he came in, and Sticks (James Clare) and Channers (Michael Channing) who can also play wing as well.

“Competition’s definitely healthy and it makes you work harder, that’s always a good thing.”